Local Choice at FreshChoice Supermarkets – five meals for a family of six for $50

All FreshChoice supermarkets in West Auckland have changed their aisles to make shopping for healthy food easier and they also provide recipe ideas for large families cooking on a budget.
Each week at FreshChoice in Ranui and Glen Eden, a new recipe book appears in the ‘Local Choice’ section, along with the recipe ingredients which are located at customer’s finger tips. Shoppers grab a free recipe book, follow the shopping list on the front of the book, and purchase their ‘week eats’ at the checkout for under $50. The dinner meals intend to feed a family of 2 adults and 4 children.

Recipes are a range of vegetarian and meat dishes with a large portion of vegetables designed to making cooking easy. The recipes also outline pantry staples and shared ingredients throughout the week. Shared ingredients such as fresh and frozen vegetables, rice and chicken are used across more than one meal. For example, one week contains a roast chicken dish and the leftover bones are used to create chicken soup later in the week.
Healthy Families Waitakere Activator Michele Eickstaedt developed a relationship with FreshChoice to trial Local Choice and partnered with Auckland Council Love Food Hate Waste who provided ideas and resources to educate families about portion sizes and food safety to reduce food waste going into landfill.

To establish this initiative, Michele Eickstaedt gathered insights through a series of interviews with the local community and found that there was a need for more affordable healthy food options. She then brought people together to create a number of healthy, cheap and easy recipes. This same group of people also designed the logo and branding for the initiative – Local Choice.

“Bringing the community together to design a solution and connecting with a local supermarket to trial it was a great opportunity for us to make healthier affordable kai more accessible to whānau” says Michele Eickstaedt.
Each week, approximately 10 families have been buying Local Choice ingredients since it launched in May 2017 and customer feedback has been positive. Overall, the sales of the individual ingredients in the Local Choice shopping list have also increased.
“It is evident that supermarket layout influences what food people purchase and by increasing access to healthy food, more people will start cooking and eating healthier to create a change in the food system”, says Michele Eickstaedt.